4:18 p.m.
Dear IUFRO Meliaceae Working party:
Below is an IUFRO communication on Tropical Forest Loss.
Regards,
Sheila Ward
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: IUFRO Headquarters <office(a)iufro.org>
Date: Mon, Sep 9, 2019 at 3:58 AM
Subject: IUFRO Press Release: Putting a Halt to Tropical Forest Loss is a
Matter of Human Survival
To: Dear IUFRO Officeholder <mahoganyforthefuture(a)gmail.com>
<http://www.iufro.org/>
* International Union of Forest Research Organizations *
IUFRO Press Release: Putting a Halt to Tropical Forest Loss is a Matter of
Human Survival
*PRESS RELEASE: Putting a Halt to Tropical Forest Loss is a Matter of Human
Survival*
(Vienna, 9 September 2019) Never before, it seems, have forests received as
much public attention as at present. Sadly, the reasons for this are most
distressing: forest fires of unprecedented dimensions all over the globe; a
growing lack of resistance of trees to stressors such as drought, pests and
diseases; and the uncontrolled exploitation of forests in environmentally
sensitive areas.
PDF for download
<https://www.iufro.org/fileadmin/material/media/iwc19-press-release-deforestatation-190909.pdf>
[image: © LEOFFREITAS/FLICKR/GETTY IMAGES]
© LEOFFREITAS/FLICKR/GETTY IMAGES
In this context, it is crucial to emphasize the particular importance of
tropical forests for global well-being and, consequently, the urgency to
effectively curb deforestation and forest degradation.
"Tropical forests are a globally significant resource for a number of
reasons – their role in carbon storage, their biodiversity value, their
role in sustaining local livelihoods, and their role in regulating the
atmospheric hydrological cycle", emphasizes the representative of Latin
America and the Caribbean on the Board of the International Union of Forest
Research Organizations (IUFRO), Dr. Manuel Guariguata of CIFOR, Peru.
"A growing body of evidence accumulated over the last few years strongly
indicates that tropical deforestation disrupts the movement of water in the
atmosphere, causing major alterations in rainfall over vast distances
potentially leading to drought in key agricultural areas worldwide. This
has tremendous implications for the world's food security. That is, the
forests cause the rainfall, not the other way around", he explained.
The drivers of deforestation are multiple and they interact in many ways:
Poverty; poor legal enforcement; unclear and/or overlapping land use
designations by uncoordinated government agencies; agroindustrial expansion
by influential elites; price hikes of international commodities such as
cocoa or coffee; and poor government capacity to enforce land use change
legislation in agricultural frontiers. Deforestation driven by commercial
agriculture and cattle rearing is a persistent problem across tropical
countries, as are uncontrolled mining of precious minerals and illegal
logging activities.
Yet, there are many possible solutions and tools to tackle the problem of
deforestation and to help make forests more resilient to climate change.
Some of the solutions, according to Dr. Guariguata, are:
*Securing access and tenure rights to Indigenous communities*.
There is scientific evidence across Amazon basin countries, for example,
that supports the contention that management by indigenous communities
helps to curb deforestation, reduce forest carbon emissions, and conserve
biodiversity.
*Encouraging the agro-industrialist private sector to adopt voluntary
sustainability standards aiming at zero deforestation*.
It is important to understand, among other things, that the implementation
of private sector commitments to halt deforestation currently varies across
products. For example, voluntary sustainability standards for palm oil are
most advanced, followed by cocoa and soy. In contrast, standards for coffee
and beef lag behind, despite the fact that cattle raising for beef is one
of the main causes of tropical deforestation.
*Improving the coherence and complementarity of forest conservation and
sustainable use policies*.
This applies not only to different government agencies with a forest
mandate and across government levels, from the local to the national, but
also to all stakeholders in the landscape such as local communities,
agriculture and forestry enterprises, environmental NGOs and civil society
at large. They have to talk with each other and work with each other in
constructive ways to effectively curb deforestation, reconcile conflicting
land uses and restore degraded land to build future more resilient and
diverse landscapes
The widespread nature of the problems of deforestation, forest degradation
and land-related conflicts, especially in tropical regions, and the equally
widespread nature of their negative effects as they ripple outward across
cultures and borders, will be addressed in many of the scientific sessions
at the IUFRO World Congress in Curitiba, Brazil, on 29 September – 5
October 2019.
Related Congress outcomes will be disseminated broadly to stakeholders and
the international media. In this way, IUFRO seeks to make a substantial
contribution to raising public awareness regarding these and other
important issues. IUFRO, as a strictly scientific, independent, non-profit,
non-governmental and non-discriminatory organization, offers platforms such
as itsWorld Congress in Brazil for in-depth scientific discussion and
interdisciplinary research to provide the material for evidence-based
decisions.
Professor Mike Wingfield, President of IUFRO, makes the point that
"Evidence shows that IUFRO can achieve the greatest positive impact on
management and policy decisions affecting forests and people by addressing
critical problems where they occur. This is especially true in
collaboration with the scientists and research institutions in affected
countries and regions, and then broadly communicating their findings. It is
my sincere hope that the members of the global IUFRO scientific community
and our stakeholders share this view. Importantly that we will be able to
use the Congress as a platform for open discussions on critical issues, for
sharing knowledge and for offering advice based on sound scientific
evidence."
*25th IUFRO World Congress*:
http://iufro2019.com/
*Media contact*:
Gerda Wolfrum, International Union of Forest Research Organizations
(IUFRO), wolfrum(a)iufro.org
###########
The *International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO)* is the
only worldwide organization devoted to forest research and related
sciences. Its members are research institutions, universities, and
individual scientists as well as decision-making authorities and other
stakeholders with a focus on forests and trees.
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